Tuesday, November 21, 2017

- Michael Thompson was born on February 11, 1954, in Brooklyn, New York & raised on Long Island. He started playing guitar at age 9, and after seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, was inspired to be a musician. All through Jr. High and High School, he had a band with his brother Todd and various friends called Stonefeather. At age 19, he left New York for Boston to attend The Berklee College of Music. While at Berklee, M.T. met many of the musicians that he would later work with on the Los Angeles music scene. After going to Berklee for two years, Michael got a gig with a popular local R&B group called The Ellis Hall Group. He toured and recorded with this group for four years. Getting to play funk music was as important in developing his unique style as was his schooling at Berklee. In 1977, Michael met his wife of 28 years, Gloria. In 1979, Michael and Gloria moved to Los Angeles to begin a studio career. Upon arrival, Michael got a gig touring with Joe Cocker. In the first year things were tight, money wise, and Michael had to drive a cab to survive financially. After his cab gig, he did a year-long world tour with Cher, which was his biggest break yet. After that, Michael did a band with Andy Fraser (formerly of The Free) and they recorded the album Fine Fine Line for Island Records. By then, Michael had been honing his craft playing on many songwriters publishing demos and doing any sessions that were offered. Among those gigs, Michael did the popular T.V. show Fame, in which he played on for four years, and Miami Vice for its last season. In 1988, after working to try and get a record deal with his band Slang for several years, he finally got a record deal with Geffen Records and recorded one album entitled How Long under the name Michael Thompson Band (MTB). The singer for this group was Moon Calhoun, who has been a long time friend of Michaels. Also in 1988, Michael got to do an album with the band Animal Logic with Stewart Copeland, Stanley Clarke, and Debbie Holland. This was an important gig for M.T. because it led to working on many movie scores with both Stewart and Stanley as composers. While with Animal Logic, Michael got to tour Europe while having the thrill of playing live on stage with two of his musical heroes. He had always been a fan of Stanley Clarke & The Police were always one of his favorite bands. In 1989, Michael got his first opportunity to work with all-star producer, David Foster. This led to Michael playing on many of David�s hit productions over the next fifteen years. Michael has expressed that working with David has been the single most important element of his recording career. Michael feels that working with David has been an honor and a great learning experience. In the mid-90�s, Michael also started working with producer/R&B singer, Babyface, and got a chance to play on many big hits with him as well. These hits include �Change the World� by Eric Clapton, �Every Time I Close My Eyes�, and the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. Michael was also part of Babyface�s live band for his Live In NYC DVD. In 1995 Michael got a chance to work with Quincy Jones on his �Qs Juke Joint� album, in which Quincy made Michael a �special� guest artist. In 1996, Michael released his first solo album, The World According to M.T. The song �Change is Gonna Come� featuring Bobby Womack received a lot of airplay on R&B radio stations across the U.S. This album was a favorite among guitar players and music lovers around the world. In 2001, Michael received a call from producer Mutt Lange to work on his wife, Shania Twain�s, new album �Up!�. Michael had long admired Mutt as one of his favorite producers and it was a huge thrill to be asked to contribute to that project. Also in 2001, Michael received the �Distinguished Alumni� award from The Berklee College of Music commemorating his contributions to the music industry. That year, Berklee Today, the schools magazine, featured a cover story on Michael entitled Platinum Touch. Michael has been working on his album MT Speaks for four years and in October 2005 will release the long-awaited follow-up to The World According to M.T. The all-instrumental album features artists such as Stanley Clarke, Vinny Coliauta, Nathan East, and newcomers Nathanial Morton (drums) and Sean Halley (bass). Besides his wife, Gloria, Michael�s family includes daughter, Sahara and sons Zach, Jason and Gordon. They have lived in Culver City for 17 years. -

- Michael Thompson (born Michael Hart Thompson, February 11, 1954 in Port Washington, New York) is an American guitarist and songwriter.

Thompson is known for his work as a session guitarist during 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s in pop, rock, R&B, country and Latin music. He founded the rock group TRW in 2007.

Early years
Michael Thompson grew up in Port Washington, New York and attended Berklee College of Music for two years, studying with Pat Metheny before leaving to tour and record with a local R&B/funk group called The Ellis Hall Group. After four years with the group, Thompson moved to Los Angeles in the hopes of starting a career as a studio musician, almost immediately getting a touring gig with Joe Cocker. Money was tight and to support himself and his wife Gloria, Thompson supplemented gigs playing on songwriters' publishing demos and sporadic session work with a job as a cab driver until landing a year-long world tour with Cher.

Following the tour, Thompson played guitar for the TV series Fame, a gig he would hold for four years, and started his own band, Slang. In 1983 he was invited by Andy Fraser, formerly of Free, to be the guitarist on his album Fine Fine Line, for Island Records (1984).

The Michael Thompson Band
In 1988, Thompson finally landed a record deal for an album of his own, with Geffen Records. The eponymous Michael Thompson Band (also known by its initial logo, MTB), featuring lead vocals by Moon Calhoun, released the album How Long in 1989 and had a Billboard chart hit that year with the single "Can't Miss". The single hit #33 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Other musicians on the album included Toto singer Bobby Kimball and ex-Kansas singer John Elefante on background vocals and John Keane, Terry Bozzio (Frank Zappa and Missing Persons) and Pat Torpey (Mr. Big) on drums.

Later work
Thompson played on the eponymous debut album by the commercial fusion act Animal Logic, the brainchild of Police drummer Stewart Copeland and bassist Stanley Clarke. Thompson shared guitar duties with Peter Haycock (Climax Blues Band) and Steve Howe (Yes, Asia, GTR). Clarke and Copeland both went on to successful careers composing film scores for which they continued to tap Thompson for guitar work, and he has also worked on film scores by Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard and Randy Edelman.

Just as Thompson's session career was hitting its stride, 1980s studio guitar staple Dann Huff left L.A. for Nashville and put out the word that producers and contractors who wanted him should instead call Michael Thompson. Thanks to a studio engineer's suggestion, Thompson began what would become a decade-long hit-laden association with producer/songwriter David Foster, including a number of Celine Dion records, beginning with "The Power of Love". It was during another Dion session for Foster in 1995 that R&B singer/songwriter/producer Babyface heard him through the wall of the studio and invited him to play on the project he was there for, the #1 Waiting to Exhale: Original Soundtrack Album for Whitney Houston. Babyface, too, would frequently use Thompson throughout the 1990s, including on the huge hit "Change the World" with Eric Clapton and Babyface's own hit single, "Every Time I Close My Eyes". Thompson was in Babyface's live band for the MTV special, album and DVD Babyface: MTV Unplugged NYC 1997.

Quincy Jones invited Thompson to be a guest on his 1995 album Q's Jook Joint. The following year Thompson released his first solo album, The World According to M.T. The album featured compositions by Thompson; a collaboration with Jeff Paris, who had guested on How Long; and a song written by another How Long collaborator, Mark Spiro. A cover of a Sam Cooke song, "A Change is Gonna Come", featuring Bobby Womack on vocals, peaked at #2 on the Billboard Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles.

Thompson's abilities and sensibilities are so trusted that BT magazine noted in its 2001 "Platinum Touch" cover story on Thompson that "These days, many artists and producers just drop their tapes off at Thompson's home studio and let him add whatever he wants. It is a convenient, low-pressure way to work, but Thompson says he still loves to interact with other musicians at the big studios."

In 2001 Thompson was awarded the "Distinguished Alumni" award from his alma mater Berklee College of Music to commemorate his contributions to the music industry. Berklee's program for the event noted that "he is widely regarded as being among the elite studio session players, and his amazing list of credits includes such prominent names as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, 'N Sync, Toni Braxton, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Joe Sample, the Scorpions, Vince Neil, Christina Aguilera, Michael Bolton, Mariah Carey, Bette Midler, Madonna, Babyface, En Vogue, Gloria Estefan, Stanley Clarke, and Ricky Martin."

In 2007, Thompson revisited his late-1980s melodic rock heyday with two projects. He recorded three new songs for a remastered re-release of Michael Thompson Band's How Long, released in the summer of that year. He also formed a new band, TRW, with Mark Williamson on vocals and bass and John Robinson on drums. The group released the album Rivers of Paradise (2007). -